


Daggers of Self-Doubt

by snafumoofins



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:40:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5097719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snafumoofins/pseuds/snafumoofins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An impromptu visit from Merlin has the Dark One feeling strangely jealous over his maid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daggers of Self-Doubt

  
“ _What_ are you reading now?” 

Rumplestiltskin certainly appreciated his bedizened vocabulary, but he never suspected he’d look at his maid and think: “adorable.”  
  
But it was indeed, very adorable how little Belle French remained glued to her book, oblivious to his question. She was quite obviously in an intense bit of _The Spurned Mother Goose_ , as she was doing that little squint she always did (not that he had _noticed_ it for any particular reason) when reading a particularly serious passage of a novel.  
  
It took her a moment to note that he was a mere foot away with his index and middle finger ticking back and forth, like the hands on a grandfather clock. Thirty seconds it had taken her to gape up at him, eyes hazy from concentrating so intently on her book. “I…Yes?” Belle slowly questioned, her neck flushing a lovely shade of pink as she realized her attempt at a reply didn’t pertain to his question at all.  
  
“Now, _maid_ , I know I’ve been…excessively _kind_ to you, given you a library, _yada-yada_ , but I _do_ expect _some_ cleaning to take place…”  
By the way her face darkened with a challenging grin on her lips, he supposed she was about to say something entirely witty and out-of-place for a maid, but a waver of magic, _new_ magic, made his playful sneer shift into a rather irritated sneer.

  
“Who’s there?!” he snapped, whipping around on his heel with a grimace (that certainly _wasn’t_ from his maid being interrupted) that could’ve made little Snow White burst into flames.  
  
“I see you’re still an old beast, Rumplestiltskin.”  
  
_Ugh. Him._ __  
  
Merlin stood before the maid and master with the same, confident swagger he always held, ever since Rumplestiltskin freed him from that wretched bit of wood ages ago.  
  
“And I see you’re still the, _ah_ ,” with his teeth bared, Rumplestiltskin cocked his head, “ _ladykiller_.”  
  
The young man before him only gave a humble smile and nod before surveying the room around him. “Looks a lot cleaner from the last time I…” he paused when he noted Belle staring at him with a confused expression. The old cat took no time before casually stepping to Belle where she sat and falling to a knee  
  
“Surprised to find someone alive, here, if I must be honest,” Merlin quipped with a devious glance towards Rumple before taking his maid’s hand.  
  
The wizard planted a kiss upon Belle’s pale knuckle with an ever so charming: “I’m Merlin, and you are?” 

“The maid of this castle,” Belle coolly replied, obviously surprised by his manners. 

“Well, I’d say that’s quite obvious from the sudden cleanliness of the place, but your name?”  
  
Something ugly reared its head inside Rumplestiltskin…something that he’d refused to acknowledge.Particular feelings that lead to _jealousy_. She was _his_ maid, after all. He could certainly remove her from the vicinity immediately, or simply destroy Merlin all together.  

The Dark One was so busy with these rampant thoughts that he didn’t even note the way his maid looked to him with a narrow-eyed look, one that clearly read: “Who is this gentleman and what is he doing here?”  
  
The imp only heard her blunt reply: “I’m Belle, the maid.”  
  
In his ears, he heard it as a dainty little sigh. _Of course she’s relieved to see someone pleasant for once. Perhaps he’ll carry her off on his shoulder for their happily-ever-after. I’m a fool to think different of her, after all._  
  
Somewhere, his consciousness knew better, but the Dark Curse certainly did love to stir up drama. The curse happily provided his mind with visions of the two, with whispering words of how little he truly was to his maid and how much better she could do with this “newer, better” man.  
  
“ _What_ do you want, _Dearie_?” He drawled, the words sounded shockingly normal to his own ears; not at all in the sneering voice he’d taken on as the Dark One, though neither Merlin or Belle seemed to notice.  
  
“A spell,” explained Merlin, standing to face the Dark One, ”I’ve come across two prisoners in Camelot that I’d like to free, but the counter-spell is something my old magic isn’t capable of breaking.”  
  
Rumplestiltskin was prepared to guffaw at the absurdity of his juvenile request, but the small woman sitting before them immediately stood with wide eyes, “I know just the spell!”  
  
Had he not been in the process of being devoured by jealousy, Rumple would’ve decided that, yet again, she was _adorable_ , but the absolute excitement she displayed only made his nose twitch. “Do you, now?” he stiffly commented. “And who is the three-hundred-year old magic-user, here, exactly?”   
“Your books are just as old,” Belle quickly retorted before hopping to her feet and gesturing for the other, admittedly older, wizard to follow, “I’ll take you to the library, the book is there.”  
  
“At your command,” said Merlin with that disgusting, amiable grin, one that seemed to melt into Killian Jones’ lecherous sneer before the man turned away to follow Mil- _no_ , Belle.  
  
“Oh yes, help yourself to my private vaults while you’re at it,” Rumple called, the only reply to his remark being the click of the door shutting.  
  
The moment they were gone, the Dark One gave a sharp twist of his neck, his face crinkling against the envy flooding his bones. He was no fool; the Dark Curse loved any chance to make his emotions into a playing field, but he _did_ have his methods of removing the majority of the madness.  
  
His legs took him to his chair, where he slowly sat to face his spinning wheel.  
  
Rumplestiltskin’s hands immediately moved to spinning, though the thought of his maid and his colleague alone in the library that _he_ gave her itched at the back of his head.  
  
He would not spy on them, he wasn’t that sort of obsessive master, not like a certain former apprentice of his, but he could keep in touch with _her_ , or rather, Belle’s feelings.  
  
It was simple, really, a little wave of his hand and he was entirely connected to her emotions.  
  
Rumplestiltskin’s brow fell for awhile as he felt a dash of excitement followed by what felt to be a burst of warmth, a _blush_.  
  
She was blushing and it was entirely because of Merlin.  
  
Disgusted, he slashed a hand before him to remove his link to Belle, giving a growling exhalation before forcing himself to resume spinning and to forget that he was nothing but a beast compared to the knight of a wizard a few floors away. 

* * *

“He cares for you.”  
  
Belle paused as she flipped through the book of spells she’d previously skimmed over, “Hm?” she hummed as she wrest her eyes from a particular spell on tongue-removal to glance over towards Merlin. 

  
“Rumplestiltskin. He’s never kept anyone here with him before, not that I’ve ever known,” the man reiterated with a fond expression, “I’m surprised to see someone like you here.”  
  
“Someone like me?” Belle repeated, her eyes narrowing.  
  
“N-No, no, I didn’t mean it as an insult!” the increasingly kind wizard assured with a large smile, “The amount of time I’ve known Rumplestiltskin…I’ve never known him to keep anyone dangerous to him around. Somebody he could grow attached to.”  
  
Despite herself, Belle blushed, worrying at her lip for a moment as she resumed to search for Merlin’s spell.  
  
“And I see you feel the same,” Merlin leaned against a nearby shelf, a wry grin on his lips.  
  
“Perhaps,” Belle admitted, “but I’ve already put the both of us through some danger and I…I’m not sure he wants to let anyone in.”  
  
With that admission, the brunette extended her book to Merlin, tapping the passage about the counter-hex he was searching for.  
  
“Ah, this’ll do, thank you,” the man’s face lit up as he took a step back, his previous grin still in place. “I’ll be on my way, then, no need to rile up the old man anymore, yes, I know I’m older, but, Belle-”  
  
Belle, who had been re-shelving the spell book in it’s proper place, peered over with a curious tilt of her head.  
  
“If anyone could prove him wrong about that, letting someone in, it’d be you. I can tell that much by the way he looks at you.”  
  
The woman nearly looked as though she could cry, but hid it in a humbled smile, “I…I very much appreciate that, Merlin.”  
  
“If you need any advice on him, simply call my name,” said the sorcerer, giving her a pat on the shoulder before bursting into a cloud of white plumes. 

* * *

  
Belle took her time in returning to Rumplestiltskin, noting he was visibly sulking _and_ spinning, (a telltale sign of a sour mood).  
  
As calm as could be, she sat herself beside his wheel, peering up at him with a fond grin. She could certainly come up with better words for his expression, but the only word she could think in that moment was _adorable_. His face was pinched and his lower lip seemed to be unconsciously jutted in a pout of sorts.    
  
“Rumple?”  
  
The Dark One jolted from his reverie, halting his wheel and looking down to her with a drained attempted at an irritated expression. “What is it?”  
  
“You were jealous,” Belle calmly stated, almost snorting with laughter as his shoulders immediately drew together, head raised.  
  
“ _Me_? Of _him_? I have _no_ reason to be _jealous_ and if you think-”  
  
His words ceased with a soft squeak as she placed her hand upon the hand that rested on his knee. “Rumplestiltskin, that man, Merlin, was…much kinder than Gaston, but all the same, a man who gained from his appearance. You know me better than that….”  
“Now, _it_ might tell you otherwise,” she entirely meant his curse in that moment, “but I am telling you the truth.”  
  
Rumplestiltskin remained unmoving for a long while before slowly sliding his hand from under hers,.  
  
In the process, her hand dropped to his thigh, causing the Dark One to jump up immediately with a shocked expression. He took a step away, trying very hard to mask the obvious, dark gray blush on his face before briskly striding towards the dining table. “Tea,” Rumplestiltskin sat, obviously both horrified and delighted by her reassurance, “for both of us,” he gruffly added.  
  
Belle rose to her feet with a knowing smile, peering to him with a mischievous gaze as she passed the table on her way for the kitchen. “Much too old for me, anyway,” the maid muttered, failing to catch the extremely smitten smile her master flashed at the comment. 


End file.
